Stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scotty]

as i keep saying... you can't expect to be treated as a road user if you behave like a road abuser.

 

Sharp

[linnega]

It is sad that this attitude exists even in the cycling community.  The fact that roads are not safe for cyclists should not be the responsibility of cyclists.  A man (or woman) on a bike is a vehicle like any other and has the right to the lane - any part of it.  Lead cars are used by groups to protect cyclists from impatient motorists that do not give sufficient space for cyclists.  Cyclists are not allowed to ride inside the yellow line any more than cars are, but the safety benefits are obvious in a country where motorists do not understand basic road regulations.  I wonder how many of you are bicycle commuters?

[Reg Lizard]

The problem is actually not with the cyclists or the motorists, but with our road planners at provincial and local level.

 

These planners should create an environment which is save for both motorists and cyclists. If they for instance create roads with cycling lanes along routes that cyclists use, we would never have these problems that we have now. The fact of the matter is that it is because of the lack of proper planning, that it is a war zone out there- everyone for himself!!! 

[slowpoke]

linnega, i commute whenever my car goes for a service and whenever i get frustrated enought o risk cycling alone into braamfontein. i also do end up riding alone every so often and i find that by sticking to my rights, but still respecting other people and road users, i have very few problems. just because the crime is so bad in this country and we all supposedly have the right to self defence doesn't give us the right to dig 6meter deep moats around our houses (is block the pavements), nor to build 2 meter walls without our neighbours permission (ie agreement to have their access to the sun / a view, where applicable).

[RodTi]

Sorry - don't want to hijack the thread here - but one more thought...

Road rage: If I am late or in a hurry, or tired and want to get home - and I end up being stuck behind an old tannie in a light green Morris Minor, who is doing 35 km/h in a 60 zone, where everyone always does 80... And the oncoming lane is too busy for overtaking, and she hasn't looked in hear rear-view mirror since 1948, then I want to start committing murder....

 

It's even worse when there is a massive, smooth, can-see-objects-for-miles- shoulder/yellow line area that she is simply not using because she is either:

 

a.) One of those people who refuses to pull over to let others pass because she is well within the law to be driving in that manner and should only use the yellow lane for emergencies, and the others behind her can wait...

b.) Honestly still thinks its 1948 - when there were at most only 5 other cars on the road anywhere in South Africa at any given time...

c.) Is so taken-in with concentrating to keep her car on the road that she cannot afford to look in her rear-view mirror, nevermind pull over to the side... or

d.) Thinks her name is Hank and doesn't actually realise she is driving...

 

Now imagine being stuck behind her for 5 km's before she either dies of old age and slowly roles her car to one side, or you get an opportunity to pass...

Now I ask you - when you, and the other 45 people behind you - eventually get to pass her, how difficult is it to either: give her the dirtiest stare ever/mouth off some incoherent jabble that demonstrates your anger/throw her the bird/fake a swerve at her car???

 

Guess that will depend on your upbringing, and how stressfull/late/bad you or your day was...

 

That tannie is plain inconsiderate and full of 5h!t! It's not just that she's driving the way she is, it's that she is doing it on a PUBLIC piece of road that I, and many others, have as much a right to use, paid for by (most of our) tax money - and there she is, imposing her way of doing things, on complete strangers... Call me a control freak - but if I can be considerate to others - why can't she??

 

Point is - that when you recite that story to your friends, EVERYONE will know exactly how you feel, and more than likely will come back with a similar story... Most people won't take sides with the Tannie...

You suddenly begin to realise that killing someone at a robot with a hockey-stick isn't so unreal as what you might have thought it was...

 

Now I ask you: Substitute the old tannie in the light green Morris Minor with a bunch of cyclists...

 

Is that any different?

I don't think so.

 

We all should ask ourselves next time we get back from a ride whether or not we became the Morris Minor to someone else... And if so - shame on you! You give the rest of us a bad name!!

 

Doom on you! Doom on you!

[Tumbleweed]

linnega' date=' i commute whenever my car goes for a service and whenever i get frustrated enought o risk cycling alone into braamfontein. i also do end up riding alone every so often and i find that by sticking to my rights, but still respecting other people and road users, i have very few problems. just because the crime is so bad in this country and we all supposedly have the right to self defence doesn't give us the right to dig 6meter deep moats around our houses (is block the pavements), nor to build 2 meter walls without our neighbours permission (ie agreement to have their access to the sun / a view, where applicable).[/quote']

 

absolutely spot-on, commuted nearly every day into jozi from benoni until i got divorced a while back. still do every friday. never been hassled by cars. heck, i've even been shown some courtesy by the taxi drivers i pass in the early mornings.

scotty, you agree with the road abuser comment. what rot. you're the "scotty" who beams it up with the tour de crash group are you?  

[butafly]

i was on holiday in France a few years back and i took my bike with . i stayed in the middle of Marseille so i had to ride quite a fair way to get into the countryside. all their roads (even in the middle of the city) has a dotted line for cyclists. one of the days during the week i got lost and found myself close to the city centre with narrow roads and lots of cars. i must admit that even though i hogged the gutter cars could not pass if there was oncoming traffic and cars parked next to the pavement (something like Muizenberg to Fish Hoek) but what amazed me was the patience that the motorists had when they were stuck behind me. reasonable tolerance of other road users - thats all it is

[Angel]

RodTi, agree with you 100%.  All of us, cyclist and motorist, have a right to be on the road.  It is just common courtesy to let the fastest moving vehicle pass the slowest.

[Tumbleweed]

scotty, i take that back. misread the comment

[scotty]

scotty' date=' i take that back. misread the comment[/quote']

 

Nah its cool, anyone who's brave enough to cycle Benoni to Jhb certainly can have a go at me.

[Tumbleweed]

stumbled again across this fine bit of writing this morning about BMW drivers, but it could just as easily to some of the agressive cyclists we've had around here lately. here's a snippet:

 

"Look at you: veins bulging, eyes popping, mouth twisted open like a toddler's in full howl. The other day you leaned on the horn to warn us you were going to run the red light, and you did -- only to skid to a stop at the next red light a block away."

  

http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/Risemberg/donthurry.html